Entourage Season 7
It was a bit of a mixed season for HBO's longest running show. It was actually the season that perhaps had the most depth as it showed all the boys with separate and specific arcs, something which the show has been criticised for not having. However not all of these storylines worked as well as they'd hoped. This was perhaps a crucial season in that it is the penultimate one and they are now only going to have a limited amount of episodes to round up the story.
Ari: Ari dealt with the fallout of Lizzie Grant wanting a promotion and him refusing to give it, considering her affair with his best friend Andrew Klein in the previous season. She took her wrath to Ari's long term enemy from season 3 Amanda Daniels. This led to some damaging details about Ari's behaviour being released to the press, which in turn lost him the NBA deal he was eying. In addition a foul mouthed and misogynist public rant at Amanda and in front of his wife, resulted in Mrs Ari walking out on Ari.
Considering some of Ari's behaviour over the years, it could be argued that it was only a matter of time before his foul mouthed rants and behaviour towards his wife landed him in hot water and honestly it was fun to watch, especially towards the end of the season where the outcome became a little more visible.I fully expect the couple to patch things up in the shows final season however.
Drama: Drama was mostly in the background this season; there were quite a few episodes where he had very little to do which was a little disappointing. His main storyline though was enjoyable. He had just a month to find a show for his holding deal with the network (the CW I think). He eventually found a show in which he was a lead; cartoon Johnny Bananas. He was reluctantly agreed to this idea and I can't wait to see some footage from the show- even if it's just viral as it will be a brilliant tie-in for the show.
Eric: As usual, E's storylines were mostly tied up in supporting the other members of the Entourage, specifically Vince and more recently Drama. However E also had his own personal storylines- a rivalry with Scott Wick at his company and Sloane, who was mostly a background character this year. This actually worked quite well, as at least we didn't have to deal with the drama of their relationship, which is when they are most enjoyable. E definitely grew in confidence and has come a long way from the season 1 playing at manager character he used to be. He should've dealt with the Vince issue a lot sooner though.
Turtle: This was probably the worst storyline of the season. After trying for so long to get his limo business off the ground, this was swiftly dropped in favour of the Avion Tequila storyline which pretty much went nowhere. It felt that they didn't really know how they wanted to wrap up the storyline and not wanting to go the predictable route of having Carlos be defrauding Turtle, they came up with a celebrity buyout that petered into nothing. This whole storyline was a real shame as I really wanted to see Turtle's Limo business go somewhere- instead he became a slacker again depending on Vince. His relationship with Alex was probably worse though as she was very annoying and I hope she doesn't return next season.
Vince: This was the main story for the season and it charted Vince's decline into drugs and self destructive behaviour. An excellent analysis I read
elsewhere on the web (read the comments not the actual review), said that this downward spiral didn't just originate from Vince's car crash in the season premiere but from last season where he is effectively abandoned by the other members of the entourage as they pursue their own lives. Vince has always been a co-dependent character and take away his friends and he starts to fail.
Vince bad a series of bad choices over the course of the season, from daredevil stunts to taking prescription drugs, and from the porn star girlfriend to snorting coke and getting punched out by Eminem.
It's an interesting subject to watch and it's something that many Hollywood actors have gone through, so I liked that they looked at this with Vince. It also changed up his character a little which made it more fascinating to watch. As for Sasha Grey, she wasn't too awful, though she is clearly not a good girlfriend for Vince so I'm hoping she doesn't return next season, no matter how much creator
Doug Ellin may love her!
I'm sad that we didn't see more of Lloyd this season, especially in the finale, though I do see how it would be hard to organically work him into the storyline. I must say I quite liked the return of a sober Billy Walsh, who was a lot more palatable than the drugged one.
I think that the premise underlying the season- the gang falling apart- is ultimately what hindered the show as there so few group scenes, only substantially in the premiere and and finale episodes I think. For a show that is based in this, it's obvious when the gang aren't all together. Whilst I appreciate the risk and the necessity of this to the storyline, I would like to see more group scenes as the show heads towards it's final episode next year.
I would also like to see less of the random celebrities- whilst some work (the the final for example Eminem and John Cleese), some really do not (e.g those sports stars Turtle calls) and feel forced into the show. With so few episodes left, only meaningful cameos would be nice, not just stars trying to get their faces on the show.
Overall this was definitely an uneven season, which definitely saw improvement once the storylines took hold and the end was in sight. It was a slightly shortened season and it definitely felt concentrated because of that; perhaps extra episodes would've given back the comedy injection needed this season. However there it wasn't all bad and mostly I did like the darker direction the show took as it showed that this show is more than just celebrity fluff.
This pilot hasn't garnered much critical attention. The cast are made up of largely unknowns and the documentary style is a well used one. However despite some bad press, this pilot wasn't half bad. There were some definite plot issues sure and I'm honetsly not sure how they will keep this premise going. However, most of the stories were intriguing and there is definitely enough to keep me interested until the next episode.
